The Butcher of Gadobhra

A heavily built wagon appeared in the center of the Tier 7 master teleport stone in the Empire's capital. Dalnir, one of the dozen Mages surrounding the stone retrieved the sheets of paper on the seat, scanned them, and sighed happily.

"Rastfian of Wolfsburg is in communication with Rowan Keep and sends the good news that they can accept excess mana and store it in the Hermetic Shield surrounding the keep. He has already emptied his stone and suggests others do the same."

The news astounded some of the older mages, but several others looked to Dalnir with interest and hope on their faces.

"They made that Shield idea work? I was told it was an insane idea to buy the Baron time?"

"I was told the Baron used a gaggle of hedge witches to carve his stone. How is it even working with our system?"

"How are they clearing the tainted mana? The cold is getting worse and my bones are aching!"

"Can we trust Rastfian on this? What if this is another plot by the Baron of Gadobhra?!"

"We never properly linked it to the Master Stone for messaging and monitoring! I was told to wait until after the appeals!"

"We have to go through the stones in Wolfsburg, they didn't wait for appeals and have been begging the Baron for extra mana, of which he seemed to have an endless supply."

Dalnir handed the papers to High Mage Ostenhoffer, a practitioner of Light, Water, and Storm magic. "I know some of you don't get out much, so trust me on this, I have a report from the Inquisitor stationed in Rowan Keep who confirms that the new stone at Rowan Keep is fully operational, as is the Hermetic Shield. Say and believe what you want about the Baron and Baroness of Gadobhra, they did not skimp on this project. They exceeded what was asked of them by so much that it earned the favor of both Ares and Hermes."

"So, we will not worry about the ramifications of what Gadobhra has done, and instead focus on how they can help. Rastfian is sending messages by wagon, crude but effective, and we will do the same. Rowan Keep can accept ten million mana from each of the nine stones we still have functioning, funneled through the Wolfsburg stone. When they have stored that amount, they will take ninety million more. I want wagons with messages moving throughout the network, detailing the plan." Journeymen and apprentices ran to carry out his will.

"As to trusting Rastfian, the man has done nothing to make us distrust him and served loyally, despite the sausage incident. If that isn't enough to satisfy you, he is working with Master Caldrius. I'm sure all of you trust his judgment in an emergency. The Duchess of the North certainly does. I had word earlier that Caldrius and his new apprentice took on an entire cabal of Ice Mages, saved the Duchess from assassination, and completely destroyed the buildings that the terrorists were using as bases."

"Caldrius took an apprentice? I hope the poor lad is fireproof and can eat rocks."

High Mage Ostenhoffer snorted and rolled his eyes. "As usual, Caldrius surprised everyone with his choice. I've heard that his new apprentice is twelve-foot tall, immune to flames, and able to survive cannon fire."

The other mages waited in vain for Ostenhoffer to say he was joking and then returned to their work of balancing the mana in the empire's network as a torrent of energy poured in from the rift.

Suzette looked at the wagon wheel before her and sadly shook her head. Ozzy's wagon had been traveling a lot today, and eventually, something went wrong. Half of it disappeared on a trip to the capital, then a wheel was lost delivering a letter to Argo City in the far west. It completed a full circuit through Devil's Gate in the South and Eastwind before returning to Wolfsburg where only this last wheel survived. So far she had managed to fill and empty the stone at Rowan Keep five times, transferring the mana to the Hermetic Shield. Wolfsburg was sending a steady stream of mana now, and she had opened a channel directly to the Shield. They were doing what was needed to save the network, but something was bothering her.

Ben noticed, "You're scowling. What's wrong?"

"My math. When we had Damien, Vladimir, and Milo here they estimated the storage of the Hermetic Shield at ten billion mana. Between lightning strikes, contributions from workers, and the mana absorbed by the runestones around Gadobhra we had over a hundred million mana in the Shield. Today I've added over 400 million. We should be over the 500 million mark but the shield is barely 4% filled. Somehow I lost over a hundred million mana."

Delbert chimed in cheerfully, "Good for you! Our problem is too much mana. If you managed to decrease the amount in the shield, that's a good thing."

Before she could think more about the subject, Delbert was proven correct as a message appeared, tied to a chair, and the stone began gaining mana rapidly, both from the rift and from Wolfsburg. Suzette and Delbert concentrated on siphoning off the mana while Ben scanned the note. "They need to send it faster, continuously, all the other stones are nearly full!"

"You're right, Delbert. Who cares where it went? Ben, tell the head mage guy in the Capital that we'll take it as fast as Wolfsburg can transfer it."

Ben's message arrived at the Master stone attached to a chair leg. "Send messages to transfer another ten million whenever Wolfsburg has space, and then do so again in one minute. And when this is over, I'll be spending a week in the Barony of Gadobhra to figure out what the hell sort of system they've created!"

In Wolfsburg, the job of keeping the stone warmed and destroying the ice was now up to Ozzy. Caldrius, Rastfian, and an increasingly exhausted group of mages were working to transfer mana to Rowan Keep as fast as humanly possible. And no matter how fast they sent it, Rowan Keep was empty and ready to drink more. And still, the mana poured in from the rift.

In Sedgewick, the Demonic Smokehouse growled in anger, sending tendrils of itself out to scour the hated ice from the system, allowing no bit of ice to infiltrate. The charnel pit roared as Joe threw more coal into it and the smoke rose up to wrap around the carcasses. With no limit on the mana he could draw from the Shield, Chainey was determined to clear the storage area of every bit of unsmoked meat or sausage. Outside, people stayed clear of the building. Fire and smoke leaked from the cracks in the wood, and a layer of smoke swirled above it.

Around Gadobhra, the Runestones glowed brightly as the system was flooded with neutral mana. The Dark mana absorbed by the stones was sluggish and inefficient to use. This new supply of mana had allowed the network to repair all of the stones in the ring except for the two destroyed by Ozzy. Back to full power, they formed a barrier that few creatures could force themselves to look at, and impossible to cross except by the front gates. The forests pressing against the walls grew denser and new growth expanded rapidly into the areas cleared by the lumberjacks.

In the center of Gadobhra, work continued on the new stone as Johannes steadily carved the runes, but everyone else was looking at the old stone, now encased in a hard coating of clear ice and nearly full of ice-tainted mana. Damien was taking notes and measuring the ice, while Vladimir sketched in his notebook and watched mana flow through the runes under the icy sheathe.

The half-dwarf closed his book and looked over at Damien, "I think this broken stone is to the point where it is fully functional. What are our plans for it? It will make a wonderful source of flavored mana. If nothing else, summers will be more bearable."

Damien, "True, I am fond of ice in my lemonade. But I'm more curious about where the mana is coming from. I'm almost certain this is from the rift, and if that is the case, the Master Stone there is still functioning. Perhaps the storm there is flavoring the mana? But think, if we have a working connection to the rift, we could teleport there, and take control of what is left of the system! All of that mana could be ours! We could demand a monthly tribute from those bastards. Justice would be served! You built that Master stone and the runic arrays completely on your own while I worked on the Siphon. I think it's time you reclaim your work!"

Vladimir paused and looked at Damien, then chuckled. "Right, I did tell you that. Didn't I? I'd almost forgotten or thought you had figured things out by now."

"Wait, you lied about something?"

"Well, maybe I exaggerated a teensy-weensy bit. I was so jealous of your work on the tower and adapting my ideas about the Siphon and making them a reality. I may have exaggerated how much of that work was my own. When we started, I found that someone had already used the rift, and their fiendish machinery was partially salvageable."

Damien's eyes narrowed, "What do you mean? Are you saying you deceived me about creating all of that by yourself? Dammit, I feel betrayed and yet proud of you, all at the same time!

Titania screamed at them. "How about you idiots bond over this latest drama later and pay attention to what is happening today! We have a visitor coming through, and it's a damned big one!" As she said this, a bit of snow and frost swirled into the air, forming a distinctive draconic form.

"It's working, my little minions, it's working! One of the large stones is nearly full and under my control. Push harder, we will empty the storm above us and the rift below to gain our freedom!"

The storm shrunk as every ounce of wild or ice-tainted mana was absorbed by the Dragon and forced into the stone. From below came an equal amount, pulled by Arthramax's will. The mage teams in every part of the Empire strained to contain the mana and send it to Wolfsburg and onto Rowan Keep. In the Keep, Suzette's form grew pale and was covered in silvered armor as she took on her full Fey aspect and became more capable of controlling the flow of mana. Ben swallowed hard, looking at her but Delbert was thrilled to find out Suzette was also a wizard. The soldiers and other inhabitants of the keep had long ago moved to safer areas.

Arthramax took one claw and pushed Barky onto the teleport pad. He'd know if his minion lived or died, and that was good enough. "Go, Testminion, Go!"

The inhabitants of Gadobhra were surprised when a half-frozen man in the torn robes of a fire mage appeared on the frozen stone, staring wildly around. Damien grabbed him and yelled at him. "Where does that connect to?! Tell me."

The terrified man could only stammer, "Dragon!"

That was good enough for Damien, "Huzzah! What a great day for Science!